Robert Ivy named "Master Architect"

Alpha Rho Chi, the national architecture fraternity, voted unanimously today to name Robert Adams Ivy, FAIA, as “Master Architect.” Ivy, the current editor in chief of Architectural Record and Vice President and Editorial Director of McGraw-Hill Construction, received the accolade for his contributions to communicating the value of design, both within the fraternity and to the larger world.

Vicki Horton, National President of Alpha Rho Chi, says of the award, “When our 56th national convention established new criteria for identifying future Master Architect candidates, I honestly felt we had set a standard impossible for any one person to reach. Robert Ivy’s significant contributions to the profession and his robust, sincere appreciation of our diverse organization place him in a class by himself. He’s proven his ability to inspire the younger generation of designers, and has fully embraced the spirit of brotherhood rooted in his membership in Alpha Rho Chi. We are delighted to confer the title ‘Master Architect’ upon Robert: our mentor, colleague, brother, and friend.”

As Master Architect, Ivy will serve in an honorary, mentoring role with the students and alumni of the organization. Since its founding in 1914, the organization has named only seven persons with this distinction: Dr. Nathan Clifford Ricker (the first graduate of an American architectural school), Cass Gilbert, Eliel Saarinen, John Wellborn Root, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Richard Buckminster Fuller, and I.M. Pei. Pei will retain the title as well.

About Alpha Rho Chi
Alpha Rho Chi, perhaps best known for the bronze medal of the same name, is a volunteer organization composed of twenty active collegiate chapters at accredited schools of architecture and fifteen alumni associations throughout the United States. The membership is comprised of students and professionals from such diverse design fields as architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, urban planning, industrial design, graphic design, and more. The Fraternity’s objective is to organize and unite students and alumni of architecture and its allied arts for educational and professional development purposes in the universities and colleges of America in order that the organization may promote the artistic, scientific and practical proficiency of its membership and the profession.